Reuters: New claims for unemployment benefits fell by 15,000 last week in the latest sign the labor market was improving and could help the country resist the effects of a likely euro zone recession.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped to a seasonally adjusted 372,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week’s claims data was revised up to 387,000 from the previously reported 381,000.

…. Claims have now fallen in four of the last five weeks, and the four-week moving average – a better measure of trends – fell 3,250 to 376,500, the lowest level since June 2008.

The Hill: President Obama on Thursday will unveil a summer-jobs initiative that the White House says is already on track to create 180,000 “work opportunities” in the private sector in 2012.

That is the number of opportunities, which includes mentoring and unpaid internships, that companies have told the administration they are willing to create. Some 70,000 jobs are paid, the White House says.

…. “Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of executive actions the Obama administration is taking to strengthen the economy and move the country forward because we can’t wait for Congress to act,” a White House statement reads.

Like this:

Related

216 Responses to “rise and shine”

There is a difference between companies run by buyout firms and those rooted in their communities, according to Ross Gittell, a professor at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics. When it comes to buyout firms, he said, ‘the objective is: Make money for investors. It’s not to maximize jobs.’ Romney, in fact, had a fiduciary duty to investors to make as much money as possible. … Romney’s winners outweighed his losers on the Bain balance sheet. Marc Wolpow, a former Bain partner who worked with Romney on many deals, said the discussion at buyout companies typically does not focus on whether jobs will be created. ‘It’s the opposite—what jobs we can cut,’ Wolpow said. ‘Because you had to document how you were going to create value. Eliminating redundancy, or the elimination of people, is a very valid way. Businesses will die if you don’t do that. I think the way Mitt should explain it is, if we didn’t buy these businesses and impose efficiencies on them, the market would have done it with disastrous consequences.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Last Call
Posted by Zandar
As expected, Johnny Volcano welcomed Mitt Romney to New Hampshire and the crowd responded with the thunderous sound of “meh.”

At a Manchester high school, Romney entered the stage for a town hall with new supporter John McCain, who won New Hampshire’s primary in 2000 and 2008. After brief speeches in which McCain called on New Hampshire to “catapult [Romney] to victory” with a big showing, they opened up the floor to questions. First up? A self-proclaimed “Occupy Boston” and “Occupy New Hampshire” activist, who challenged Romney to defend his famous “corporations are people” line.

Clearly used to it at this point, Romney launched into a lengthy, detailed, and impressively delivered explanation of how he views corporations as “collections of people that are trying to have good jobs for themselves” rather than just “buildings.” He even mixed it up on a follow up question about whether retained earnings that corporations sit on rather than invest are still productive.

“When a business has profit it can do good things,” he replied.

One woman asked why he favored increasing health care costs, (“I don’t think anyone is in favor of seeing rising health care costs”). A Chinese-American immigrant said she felt his China-bashing rhetoric was “degrading” to Asians.

“I hope I haven’t put any Asians down,” he said, adding he supported legal immigration of all kinds.

For Republicans hoping to deny Mitt Romney the party’s presidential nomination, the problem has never been their numbers. The former governor has consistently run into a modest ceiling precisely because so many in the GOP neither like nor trust him.

The problem, rather, has been their splintering. It’s never been enough to simply oppose Romney; in a seven-candidate field, these opponents need to pick someone else.

Remember the “Not Mitt Romney” initiative launched two months ago by some fairly prominent right-wing voices? It wasn’t a bad idea, except for the fact that these folks never settled on an alternative. The task for Romney’s Republican detractors can’t be to simply highlight his flaws; it’s to elect someone else. “Not Mitt Romney” isn’t, and can’t be, the goal; nominating one of his rivals is.

Apparently, this realization is starting to sink in, at least among some.

Last week, Mitt Romney relied on a standard conservative talking point to make a point about the budget: he’s eyeing changes to public television.

“I like PBS,” the Republican said. “We subsidize PBS. Look, I’m going to stop that. I’m going to say, ‘PBS is going to have to have advertisements.’ We’re not going to kill Big Bird, but Big Bird’s going to have advertisements, all right?”

I WILL BE WATCHING PBO TODAY…BTW..PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR HOMELESS HERE IN INDY…THE CITY FATHERS ARE GOING TO TRY TO HIDE THEM FROM SUPERBOWL ATTENDEES. APPARENTLY THEY ARE GOING TO USE LAW ENFORCEMENT…WE ARE UNSURE OF WHAT THIS MEANS. PLEASE PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE LOST ON THE STREETS..PRAY FOR THEIR PROTECTION!

UNFORTUNATELY…THERE ARE THOSE WHO REFUSE TO GO NEAR A SHELTER…IN FEAR..THEY HANG UNDER THE BRIDGES AND IN ALLEY WAYS…THOSE ARE THE ONES I AM CONCERNED ABOUT…PLEASE PRAY FOR THEIR PROTECTION UNTIL THIS IS OVER. THEY SPENT $12.6 MILLION ON COSMETICS FOR GEORGIA ST. TO IMPRESS TOURISTS…WITH 3,000 CHILDREN DAILY HOMELESS IN INDY…I FIND THIS GREED TO BE DISGUSTING! TYPICAL REPUBLICAN BEHAVIOR!

Mitt Romney still says he’s unlikely to publicly release his tax information, even if he clinches the Republican presidential nomination, and Democrats have a pretty good idea why.

Romney is a privileged poster child for the “Buffett Rule” — President Obama’s principle that the tax code should make it impossible for a person of great wealth to pay a lower share of their income in taxes as than ordinary people. The DNC knows it, policy wonks know it, Romney certainly knows it. But the reasons why are technical and illustrate just how different Romney is from the vast majority of Americans who will cast votes for him — in either the GOP primary or the general election.

One tax expert told TPM of “fairly sophisticated tax strategies” that would be “not available to ordinary tax payers.” A technique that puts you in a position that’s “like having an unlimited 401k account” sounds very attractive. But maybe not if you’re running for office, for Pete’s sake.

Maybe I’m giving Romney too much credit, but I can’t believe this is the case in that he has been running for President, or envisioned running for President for near 20 years. He would have realized that he’d have to release his taxes as a Presidential candidate and would know that playing the rich man’s tax games wouldn’t look good to the electorate. I think his taxes will be clean and he’s playing this up as a set-up, a manufactured “gotcha”, he’s hoping the Obama Campaign will latch onto this issue and make a big deal out of it, really start dogging him on it and start claiming Romney must not pay any taxes – then when Romney finally relents and releases them and they’re clean as a whistle he can say “See, the Obama Campaign and Dems tried to smear me based on nothing but baseless rumors – they have nothing to attack me on so they need to make up phony issues”. If the Obama camp doesn’t bite, but the MSM runs with the tax release issue, same game can be played – finally release them and say “See, the MSM is in the tank for Obama and makes up phony attack issues to smear me with”. Romney wants to play the victim.

Republicans believe the President milked the birther issue; felt like he should have released the longform when it came up years earlier but didn’t because he benefited politically in making the Republican party look like crackpots for all the birthers among them. Romney refused to release them in 2008, but he didn’t make a deep run and I can somewhat understand a simple primary candidate not releasing all their personal tax information.

Or maybe Romney did play the rich mans games with his taxes. Maybe greed got the better of him and he now realizes it could end his Presidential ambition.

Dont know about that. The reason a lot of people like this do things is cause they don’t think they’ll get caught & because they can…see Clinton v Lewinsky. Plus unless Romney does his own taxes then his CPA does it & I’m betting they used whatever they could do to pay less taxes. Romney certainly hasn’t been saying he paid more than he had too right. Don’t the Obama’s pay more than they have too? Plus don’t forget that line of Romneys that of course he got rid of illegals he running for President for gods sake. That explanation for doing the right thing should NOT sit well with most reasonable people. Oh so if he wasn’t running for Prez…?

I respectfully disagree! Mitt Romney needs to release his tax returns! Other Presidential candidates, going back to 1980’s have done so. In 2008, President Obama released his tax returns, as did John McCain. Obviously there is no law that requires Romney to do release his tax returns, but, If he has nothing to hide, releasing them will make this a non-issue. I am sorry, but this can’t be equated with the nonsense about birth certificates (which, the last time I checked, President Obama had already released both the official and the so called long form certificates-a totally unprecedented action in the history of the United States), or the demand for the release of the President’s grade transcripts. Have you noticed that it’s only President Obama who is demanded to release his grade transcripts? I can’t recall any one asking McCain, Romney, Gingrich, Cain, Bachmann, Santorum, Paul, Huntsman and even the Clintons, to release their college transcripts. Of course the assumption is that white folks are supposed to have achieved their success purely on the basis of merit, whereas successful Blacks must have benefited from the unfair advantage of affirmative action.

I am sorry to disagree, but we must insist that Mitt Romney follow tradition and release his taxes to demonstrate that he has absolutely nothing to hide. That doesn’t mean that there are no other issues that he can be attacked on.

I can’t say I agree. Romney vigorously defends the rights of the rich to pay less taxes as if it’s in some way patriotic. It was not until recent months that the issue of what tax rate the rich pay has gotten serious traction. Romney doesn’t think that far ahead and now he’s between a rock and a hard place.

Anyone running for President knows he will have to release his tax returns. to even feign his ‘right’ to not do so is ridiculous.

IMO, his taxes are fair game,especially after his son Matt brought up the issues of PBO’s bc and college transcripts. It’s obvious to me that the Romneys can throw rocks at others but can’t stand having any thrown at them. It’s time to take off the gloves. I’ve watched the republicans for over 40 years now, and I truly believe that the reason they’ve been able to become the biggest hypocrites on the planet has to do with too many of us pretending that what they say/do doesn’t matter. For them, accountability is only for others. I think this is what has gotten us into our present set of circumstances. A case in point happened earlier this week when Newt called Romney a liar and the reporters pretended to be shocked. If most of us have noticed the discrepancies between what Mitt says/does, they probably have, too. With the MSM, it’s all about gaining or losing access to certain people, so they know things but don’t reveal them to us, and when the truth is told, they head for the fainting couches, and I believe it’s all an act.

Don’t believe it.
1. He’s not legally required to disclose his tax returns, it’s something candidates have been doing voluntarily for a while.
and
2. He’ll just keep refusing.
and
3. He thinks he can get away with it.

The President released his official birth certificate! It was up to the then Republican Governor of Hawaii to release the so called long form, but she objected. Once A Democratic Governor was elected, the so called long form was released. Sadly, it has done absolutely nothing to tamper down the “Birther Idiocy.” As you well know “Birthers” argue that the long form that the government of Hawaii released was not authentic. Even one of Mitt Romney’s son alluded to this a couple of days ago. So for you to find parallels between the birthers’ demand for President Obama’s Birth certificate, which he publicly released in 2008, with Mitt Romney’s refusal to release his tax returns (something that candidates for President have routinely done for over thirty years), makes absolutely no sense to me.

In the case of the ridiculous demand for the President’s Birth certificate, it was really up to the State of Hawaii. As far as I know, Hawaii fulfilled her obligation by releasing an official birth certificate of the President that was similar to all the other birth certificates issued to US citizens in Hawaii. The fact that the “bithers” rejected the President’s official “Birth Certificate” had absolutely nothing to do with its authenticity. Rather, It had a lot to do with the racism of the “Birthers.” My proof: Their quick rejection of the so called long form once it was finally released. Clearly nothing will ever satisfy the “Birthers” who are absolutely convinced that a Black person cannot be legitimately elected President. That is why I totally failed to see why you think Mitt Romney refusal to release his tax returns is the same as President Obama willingness to produce endless birth certificate proofs. I am sure you are aware that most “birthers,” including Donald, the Trump and one of Romney’s son, are still not convinced that President Obama was born in this country.

Once again, for the record, President Obama released his official birth certificate, which is exactly similar to the birth certificate issued to other U.S citizens, including my daughter when she applied for a passport to travel to Mexico and later Israel. I don’t care what Republicans believed! President Obama “never milked the birther issue.” For you to accept it as a valid position is really disappointing.

The TRUTH is: President Obama released his birth certificate in 2008, something no other previous 43 presidents were ever asked to do. I know you are aspire to be a reasonable person who tries to bend over backward to accommodate the Republicans. But, in this instance, I just don’t see why you think Mitt Romney’s refusal to release tax returns (something that other Presidential candidates have done going back to the 1980’s) is somehow analogous to the irrational, racist, birther demands, not for the official birth certificate, but for the so called long form, which, once it was released, is still not acceptable to the birthers as being legitimate.

There is no more fundamental right accorded to United States citizens by the Constitution than the right to vote. The unimpeded exercise of this right is essential to the functioning of our democracy. Unfortunately, history has not been kind to certain citizens in protecting their ability to exercise this right….

The Carter-Baker commission in 2002-2004 said fraudulent votes make up .000003% of the votes cast. That’s a lot of zeros. Let me say it a different way. Out of almost 200 million votes that were cast during these elections, 52 were fraudulent. To put that into some context, you are statistically more likely to get killed by lightning than to find a fraudulent vote in a federal election….

Mr. President, this is not the appropriate time to be debating this kind of amendment. I would ask that all my colleagues reject the amendment so we can move on to the important business at hand. Thank you, Mr. President.

–from Senator Barack Obama’s Floor Speech in Opposition to the Amendment Requiring a Photo ID to Vote, May 24, 2006

I loved the way Sherrod Brown repeatedly called PBO the only adult in the room, as BWD so beautifully reminded us daily with her blog. My favorite Brown comment was that Mitt Romney was “not ready for prime time.” With the “not Mitt Romney” forces gathering, as rikyrah mentions above. and the Democratic voices consolidating against him, Mittens is in for a no good, terrible, very bad time in the weeks ahead. And it couldn’t happen to a more deserving person.

Thanks for the feedback Christi. This is fantastic news. I love Melissa Harris-Perry. She is a terrific guest and she has been an excellent stand in host for Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell. She is a natural. Very comfortable in front of the camera and an excellent interviewer. I have often thought she should have her own show. I am really looking forward to this new addition to the MSNBC weekend lineup. Her timing is impeccable. With the drama of the 2012 elections upon us, we need more truth tellers like Rev Al on the tv machine. I wish her all the best in this new venture. BTW, if she is replacing Alex Witt I will be thrilled.

Mitt is a control freak. He probably gets pissed off when he sneezes in public because it shows he’s not in complete control. Iowa kept him up late, NH got him up early. He was probably operating on little sleep and I think it showed. This is why I want a long primary – not because he’d be bloodied and spend money he then couldn’t spend attacking Pres Obama, but because it will wear him down. When we’re tired we have a short temper and we make mistakes – given Mitt’s controlling nature I think that is a recipe for an epic meltdown.

The moment the GOP primary is decided and Romney is the winner, Pres Obama’s campaign needs to kick off in full force. Don’t give Mitt any time to rest and recharge. Given the early primaries are proportional, as long as Romney doesn’t win Florida or SC this race should go until April, at which time the primaries become winner take all.

Given that the Obama re election campaign and the DNC have been attacking Willard since last fall, I believe that they are prepared to give Willard the full force of what they’ve got… I also hope the DNC and Obama re election campaign attack McCain for endorsing Willard after calling Willard a flip flopper in 2008, destroy the party even more that way!

The craziest thing about the McCain endorsement was his declaring the primary over and how it was time to rally behind Mitt. If McCain believes this to be true, than why didn’t he drop out after finishing 4th in Iowa in 2008 and endorse Huckabee?

THOSE HAIR ON FIRE, NOSTRILS FLARING, HYSTERICAL HEADLINES STILL A MAINSTAY AT HUFF AND PUFF

I won’t click on the Huff & Puff website. But I my guess is there is no mention of Republican Party obstruction for the last three years in that post about job creation for low end workers. And I would bet there is no mention of the American Jobs Act that was blocked by the GOP. Or the impact of PBO saving the auto industry.

The contortions that Huff & Puff has to go through to come up with something negative to post about President Obama is just amazing. We have divided government but yet the only person they hold accountable is President Obama. You would think the congress did not exist even though enacting legislation for job creation is their responsibility.

I’ve noticed a couple of Flip Romney’s surrogates are not very good at making the case for him. Judd Greg and Meghan McCain come to mind. Their recent MSNBC appearances were awful. But neither of them are very good speakers anyway…

It was a Rahm idea I think. Gregg wasn’t going to run for re-election and sent out feelers through Reid of possibly working for the administration. He was also seen as the strategic brain to the GOP Senate leadership, and knew all the ins and outs and tricks and the idea was to give him commerce where he couldn’t do much just to get him out of the Senate. I think the whole “census” issue only came up when Gregg was taking a lot of flack from his GOP colleagues and decided still being invited to their parties was more important than the commerce gig.

I’ve lost any respect I had for this clown, Sure he continues to advocate for the middle class which is a good cause, but his efforts are wasted when he ranted and raved about the President being a sellout. I guess MSNBC needs one pompous loudmouth, which is why they haven’t given Ed the boot like they did with Olberloon.

I can’t because Ed will never give PBO the same benefit of the doubt. His emotions gets the best of him and he starts attacking PBO. For him to say, ricky is JUST AS GOOD AS PBO with “retail campaigning”…really? Where is rickys ground game? ricky can’t garner more than 500 people including news reporters..I think he messed up and is back peddling.

That moveon.org ad was good until the last five seconds. the “He doesn’t care about jobs, he cares about money” quote needed a pause after it to let it sink in for full effect, but due to the time constraints to get their “moveon is responsible for the content of this ad” legal requirement, the “he cares about money” line is walked all over. They should have took out something in the middle, to gain an extra second or two to space out the ending quote and their tag.

READ IT HERE FIRST — What does light rail mean for St. Paul? A Healthy Corridor for All Health Impact Assessment report out today examines the changes ahead for St. Paul’s Central Corridor. A new $1 billion light rail line running between the Twin Cities by 2014 is expected to elicit nearly $7 billion in transit-oriented development, much along St. Paul’s 12 new stations. Though Minnesota specific, the report touches on the myriad changes at the local level that take place along almost every new large fixed-guideway transit project.

The Central Corridor is diverse, and concerns of rising housing prices and gentrification are backed up by this research, which concludes recent zoning changes haven’t been done in an equitable manner for the existing population. It’s not all bad news — the line will increase transit access and encourage biking and walking, which bring health benefits to the population. But with those new foot-powered travelers, the assessment worries “pedestrians will be at a greater risk for injuries related to collisions if pedestrian improvements are not made.” Read it here: http://bit.ly/xFclIv

Hollywood actor Don Cheadle learned the hard way what many public figures have known for a while: don’t say anything bad about President Obama.

There is certainly an increase in the level of accessibility of media and entertainment figures in an age of social media, where regular people can tweet directly to their favorite pundits and performers. While many may assume that it’s vocal critics of President Obama like Cornel West and Matt Damon who are the only ones making all the ruckus, in many ways it’s the very passionate and vocal supporters of Obama on Twitter and elsewhere who are having an impact.

Thank you, COS! I did not see that and so glad I have. I don’t do twitter yet but am so thankful to those who do. It does even the playing field. Those who have the mic can say anything and they either need to be supported or pushed back on.

MT POLL — Best president for transport? Who can fix the nation’s “crumbling infrastructure”? Would more years of Obama be the best bet or is there a GOP contender who has a leg up? Vote and see results: http://bit.ly/s6mTdJ

Ok, like most people I think Romney will be the nominee (hopefully after a long bloody fight with Ron Paul or Newt), I also think that yes he will be a more formidable opponent than the others would have been, but I believe that he is just not that great a candidate. Yeah he seems so smooth and competent now, but that cause he being compared to fools. One fool may be better than another, but he is still a fool! I think a lot of people are too easily buying into Romneys supposed strength amongst the idiots and the “expectations” game that the MSM likes to play and we somehow get caught up in it too and begin to believe the MSM hype. Well I just remind myself of how much hoopla was garnered over Rick Perry. Remember his fundraising prowess, he’d never lost an election, his charisma, how the other GOP contenders beta look out…well how did that turn out??? Lessons learned “Don’t believe the hype”.

So yeah, Romney might be harder to fight than the others, but there is nothing to be afraid of and nothing worth panicking about. POTUS and the campaign are already gearing up and are already sticking it to Romney. Let’s not fall into the “Rick Perry” trap of making Romney more formidable than he actually is.

Personally, I really do believe that President Obama isn’t losing a night’s sleep over these GOP candidates. As he said, he’s going to be laying out the policy comparisons. And he’s got the facts on his side, which he’s able to use magnificently, as we saw during the “Boston Massacre” when the Republicans were left cowering and shaking. I think that the campaign deliberately made Romney their target, to intimidate the other GOP candidates into giving him room as the only viable contender. Since Romney is backed by the big money, and it’s “his turn” as they say, he was always more likely to be the nominee that the establishment GOP preferred.

Last week, I thought Santorum would be a better opponent for the General election, because he represents the tea party and the social values – which the Governors have been implementing with wild abandon and the establishment doesn’t want to talk about openly. I thought that Santorum being the nominee would make it even easier for President Obama to fight the policy issues directly, without the GOP money clouding the issue with all their spinning.

But, I’m rethinking my position this week. I think Romney with all his money backers might be an even better target, because he takes whatever position makes the most political sense at the time. He may flip and flop enough to touch on all policy positions, and he doesn’t have an emotional crowd behind him that are irrational in their support. The biggest reason for people to support Romney, from what I’ve heard on the radio for the last several days, is that they think he’s got the best chance at beating President Obama – they don’t care about the policies. So, he can lie to his heart’s content, but every lie is heard by the Independents, who DO care about policies. A bruising defeat of Romney and the GOP machinery will do more damage to the GOP empire.

An Afghanistan war veteran is in trouble for giving a political speech while in uniform at a caucus night rally with Ron Paul on Tuesday in Iowa.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Reserve told TPM on Wednesday that Cpl. Jesse Thorsen may have violated military policy when he wore his fatigues on stage and praised the Texas congressman’s presidential bid.

Thorsen’s commander is now looking into the speech and will figure out what to do next, said the spokeswoman, Maj. Angel Wallace…
Had Thorsen been on active duty, he could have faced up to two years in military prison and a dishonorable discharge, Fidell said. But even off active duty, he may still be facing punishment.

Fidell said Paul’s campaign should have known better, too. That night’s third-place finish “must have been better than they expected,” Fidell said, because “they allowed their better judgement to get away from them.”

Impressed by the effectiveness of the liberal Center for American Progress, a group of conservative journalists and operatives are preparing to engage in their own sincerest form of flattery – launching an advocacy group with a similar name and mission but a very different target.

Part assault on CAP and part homage, the Center for American Freedom’s goal is to wage a well-funded assault on the Obama White House and the liberal domination of partisan online media.

Based in Washington, it will have an annual budget of “several million dollars,” according to its chairman, Michael Goldfarb, and will house a new conservative online news outlet, the Washington Free Beacon, edited by former Weekly Standard writer Matthew Continetti. It will also include a campaign-style war room led by two former chiefs of the Republican National Committee’s vaunted research operation.

That makes me laugh. Seriously, who will be the audience for this new media outlet? The same people as Fox News. It will just be an exercise in confirmation bias. And hubris. Oh well, at least it is a job for someone.

Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi in the Office of State Administrative Hearings denied a motion by Obama asking to dismiss the complaint that seeks to keep his name off the state ballot during the March presidential primary. The judge’s decision now sets the stage for a Jan. 26 hearing on the issue in Fulton County.

I love how people are trying to change what the constituti­on saying, to be president you have to have both parents born in America or have both parents be US citizens becasue that is what the founding fathers intended. If that is so then why didn’t they stop these guys when running or being president.­…

Thomas Jefferson‘­­s mother was born in England
Andrew Jackson‘s parents were both born in Ireland
James Buchanan had an Irish father
Chester A. Arthur had an Irish father
Woodrow Wilson‘s mother was English
Herbert Hoover had a Canadian-b­­orn mother

Mitt Romney’s father was born in Mexico – and he still ran for President. And if they throw out President Obama’s eligibility because hi father was born in Kenya, then they will have to throw out Mitt Romney’s eligibility, too. So, it will be a wash – Georgia won’t be able to vote for a Presidential candidate this year, if Romney becomes the nominee.

I hope he does because I think a lot of folks realize defense spending it out of control. Also I believe McRaven and Petraeus were both pushing for more special ops focused campaigns. The big cuts come from the fact that the military will no longer plan on being capable of fighting two separate wars at the same time. Guess what – US can’t afford it. But in the same breath the GOP will say don’t work through UN and build consensus and share the load, that America should be able to go it alone and not lead from behind.

The fact is that after our last adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, we’re not going to have land wars in Asia again. Ever since the end of the Cold War defense experts have been talking about the need for a leaner, more flexible military that costs less to maintain but is still dominant. Instead we’ve kept the bloated, 2 wars at a time force. With the weapons technology we have today, we don’t need 35 combat brigades, we don’t need massive bases all around the world. The only places we need to keep a large troop presence are in Japan and S. Korea to counter the North Korean threat; even there, we could reduce troop levels and keep a naval task force on standby.

Wow, a sensible defense strategy. Think what it would save and how much more effective it would be. We have to make sure that all veterans get jobs and are rewarded for their service. But, that’s exactly what the president is doing.

Truth be known, we now have military units that are combined forces that can be deployed anywhere on the globe in 7 days or less. There are special ships and aircraft that have crews and crew members that are collective of all the services. We already know we have SEAL teams that can be deployed by air and sea. The Army and Air Force also have a sea going contingents. These multi-functional forces can now watch the world from our shores.
The day of the “average” foot soldier is over. The day of the highly trained multi-tasking service member is here.

Pres Obama gets re-elected and he’ll in the very least name replacements for Justices Breyer and Bader Ginsburg, meaning he would have nominated all four of the liberal Justices. No conservative justices would retire but tomorrow is promised to nobody.

Well, he’s very, very thoughtful in all his answers. His demeanor is very even-tempered (he answered challenges beautifully) and his commitment to helping folks is unwavering. Just a really perfect way to launch this long over-due department.

Portman and Kasich are Teabaggers. If Cordray ran for the Senate or Governor in Ohio he would have an excellent shot. I want to congratulate our former Attorny General once again for his stewardship and forthrightness and he will be an excellent director of this new agency for as long as he holds the post.

I watched that interview of Directory Richard Cordray and he was just terrific. It’s such a pleasure to finally see him in action. Elizabeth Warren must be so proud of him. This is a great day for the American consumer.

Good morning to all you inhabitants of TODville. It’s another wonderful day to discover what kinda of mischief the wingnuts are up to. Let me begin with the following words from one of my favorite writers:
“Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. Thus people haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.” – Eric Hoffer (1902 – 1983)

Fareed Zakaria has an important column today in the Washington Post, an antidote to the dangerous silliness about Iran that is being peddled by the Republican presidential candidates. Iran is faltering, not gaining strength, Fareed writes. The sanctions regime that the Obama Administration patiently negotiated with Russia and China is having a major impact. Iran’s major ally in the region, Syria, is at the point of collapse. But the most important point Zakaria makes is about the difference between Iran’s militant rhetoric and military reality…

the reality in Iran has absolutely nothing to do with the way the issue is being discussed by the Republicans on the campaign trail. Iran is not the most dangerous foreign policy issue facing our country. Pakistan–with a nuclear arsenal and the very real possibility of an Islamist Army coup–is.

Thanks for the link. You reminded me of something I read here a few weeks ago: Geoge Clooney was talking about a little comversation he had with President Obama. He asked him about what was keeping him awake at night. President Obama mentionned a few things … But Clooney insisted and asked him the ONE single thing that concerned him the most. President Obama replied with a single word: “Pakistan” .

I’ve been making this point on twitter and Facebook since I heard George Clooney’s quote from his conversation with President Obama. The media can’t think for themselves, so they’ve been reinforcing the message that the GOP has been force-feeding the public, which is that Iran is somehow a threat. Pakistan is having a hissy-fit, and they’ve actually got nuclear weapons and are surrounded by unfriendly forces who would love to get their hands on those weapons. The rest of the middle east can be monitored by the Arab league, and Europe should be more concerned with safety in that region, anyway.

I also love that President Obama has made it clear that he’s reducing the focus on the middle east in order to safeguard the commercial trade routes that China’s trying to take over in Asia. Looking ahead to the future, this is important. It slows China’s bullying and uncontrolled monopolizing of the area, and forces opportunities for other players in the region. It also still keeps an eye on Iran, but from the Asian side – which is also important, given the alliance between China, Russia and Iran. Most businesses are looking east for expansion, and the Asian peninsula is only going to get more important and more contentious.

Tell me about it. I will always think of the young, vigorous, beautiful “Bobby” Kennedy. How depressing to think of him as an aged grandfather, not to mention how depressing it is to think of my aged self. Hope his grandson sweeps the district in a landslide. Win it for Grandpa Bobby, Joseph. He’d be very proud.

Richard Cordray took over as director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau one day after he was recess-appointed by President Obama.

Obama’s decision, which rankled Republicans and has led to threats of lawsuits from industry groups, had an immediate effect, as the bureau announced Thursday it was launching its nonbank supervision program.

Without a director, the CFPB could supervise banks but could not expand its oversight to cover things like payday lenders, mortgage servicers, or private student loan lenders. Because of Cordray’s recess appointment, it will now dispatching examiners across the country to visit such institutions.

Norah O’Donnell just asked Jay Carney why President Obama started 2012 in such a “PROVOCATIVE” way by recess appointing Richard Cordray. She carried water for the GOP and said that they may not be cooperating with him because of this action and they are threatening legal action. It’s the old – President Obama has poisoned the well and now the GOP is not happy. Jay explained again why President Obama had to take the action he did. It is hard to tell if his response got through since facts seem to be filtered out by Norah.

They never report on the obstruction and attempt at nullification in this case, but are outraged at the remedy. I wish these pressers were a two-way street and Jay could ask the reporters questions like “Ms. O’Donnell don’t you find it interesting that the GOP just didn’t propose legislation if they wanted to change the CFPB? Do you think it’s okay for them to block his appointment eventhough nobody argues that he is unqualified, but want to hold his confirmation hostage to force their desired legislative changes?”

Totally agree. The jackals are insufferable water carriers for the GOP. Every question seems to have at it’s root some GOP talking point or criticism of the Obama administration. I really like the idea of Jay Carney being able to turn the tables and ask the jackals questions.

StR, Jay could point out all of this in his responses. That he doesn’t is certainly a strategic choice by Team Obama. I’m puzzled by it, but we know from experience that they’re usually good strategists for the long game. So I don’t worry.

These Republican candidates eat well, don’t they? Can’t listen to Santorum, but also can’t help noticing his wide girth, which looks worse without the sweater vest. Hopefully, R voters are as distracted as I am, with all of them!

The Republicans are going to stamp their little feet and threaten and squall endlessly. That’s all they do. I think the majority of Americans are sick and tired of their childishness. Let them threaten…..they come off worse than ever, while the President is working. They are still ON VACATION!!! while he is working, and Richard Cordray is working, and all the executive departments are working. THEY are the lazy, worthless ones, and I think people are realizing that. They are used to getting their way by this behavior. The President is tired of it, and is learning and using ways to get things done by going around them. They are defeating themselves. Norah is as bad as they are. The President does what he has to and moves on. These people keep rehashing the same old things, asking the same tired questions, digging their approval ratings ever lower!

Sen. Scott Brown Slams Newt Gingrich For His ‘Disturbing’ Attacks On The Judiciary That ‘Pander To The Right-Wing Extreme’ | In an op-ed for the Boston Herald, Republican Sen. Scott Brown (MA) blasted GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich over his “disturbing” positions on the judiciary, including his desire to “abolish courts that displease him, ignore Supreme Court decisions he doesn’t approve of, and order U.S. marshals to arrest judges to force them to explain their decisions to Congress.” Noting that judges would make judgments while in constant fear of retaliation from politicians under Gingrich’s “scheme,” Brown pointed out that “public confidence in the impartiality of the courts would be shattered.” “Gingrich styles himself a historian, but he is either blissfully unaware that the Founding Fathers deliberately established our government with three co-equal branches of government, or he is fully aware of that elementary fact and yet is pandering to the right-wing extreme element in our own party,” said Brown, adding “I don’t know which is worse.”

So someone commenter at another blog was wondering what the Romney superpacs strategy be against POTUS and the campaign if they plan to try to go after the campaign like they did Newt.

personally I think it will be dog-whistles galore and outright lies and distortion. Mittens has already been doing it in his speeches and his ads. The MSM is just too busy salivating over the horse race to care (other than the good ones like Greg Sargent). The good thing is that the only real people paying attention right now are us and the GOP trying to find their nominee. The majority of the people I know don’t even follow politics until the “competition” begins and the sides are chosen.

Can’t stand Newt, but he was correct in saying that Ronmey is a liar. He has been lying about Obama’s record since the beginning. And unlike some people I’m not willing to give him or his sons the benefit of the doubt on the birther dogwhistling either.

So I expect his superpacs to lie and distort against Obama partially because as we know Obama personally is as squeaky clean as a pol can be unlike Newt and contra to RW fantasy and Faux news the Obama admin has had no real scandals in the past 3 years. so lies and distortion are gonna be the only way for the superpacs to go.

The good thing is that we know that Axelrod, Plouffe and Obama campaigners are ready for them. It’s why Obama fundraising is so important. the MSM will pissed themselves about the ‘OMG 1 Billion haul” meme, but Obama and Dems will need all the money they can raise to fight against the superpacs for all Dem candidates not just Obama. It’s one reason why I am seriously contemplating contributing to one of the Dem superpac if I am able and other should too.

There are a few democratic superPACs out there, but I can’t think of names right now. I heard something about a superpac the fraternities were putting together. it has 1911 in the title, so I figure it was either Kappas or Alphas, not sure which. Hey, it might be both in some kind of joint venture. I have no more detail than that, so I have no idea if they have any major funding…

“Calling itself 1911 United, the super PAC is aiming to raise $1.5 million during the election cycle and train its efforts on Colorado, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, committee treasurer Sinclair Skinner told POLITICO.“He needs a boost,” Skinner said of Obama. “And we want to use all the means possible to support him, including a super PAC. Black political participation is still evolving, and what we hope to do is get as many voters active in the process as early as possible.”

The committee is backed by two large, historically black fraternities, Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi, both of which celebrated their centennials last year.

The 1911 United super PAC will likely work to “organize and deploy” black voters — particularly potential first-time voters — in support of Obama, said Skinner, a long-time Washington, D.C.-based political organizer who’s a mechanical engineer by trade. He notes that the group intends to make significant use of phone banking and social media to achieve this goal.”

@gaz: I understand people’s aversions to them and I agree, that’s why I said, I’m “contemplating” it.

I’ve already been donating to the campaign since ’08 (love shopping in the logo store and I wish I could win the “dinner with Michelle and Barack” sweepstakes) and I will continue to do so, but there is a superpac that is done by an couple of African American fraternities that I am looking into (1911 United) that based on who they are and what they say they plan to do with raised funds that I am seriously contemplating on.

“Calling itself 1911 United, the super PAC is aiming to raise $1.5 million during the election cycle and train its efforts on Colorado, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, committee treasurer Sinclair Skinner told POLITICO.“He needs a boost,” Skinner said of Obama. “And we want to use all the means possible to support him, including a super PAC. Black political participation is still evolving, and what we hope to do is get as many voters active in the process as early as possible.”

The committee is backed by two large, historically black fraternities, Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi, both of which celebrated their centennials last year.

The 1911 United super PAC will likely work to “organize and deploy” black voters — particularly potential first-time voters — in support of Obama, said Skinner, a long-time Washington, D.C.-based political organizer who’s a mechanical engineer by trade. He notes that the group intends to make significant use of phone banking and social media to achieve this goal.”

You can also contribute to DCCC, DSCC, Democratic Party, or to individual races such as ElizabethforMA that you support. All contributions to Obama/Biden and any of the congressional races or even to local races (school board, state legislator, governors). Republican Governors’ Association outraised Democrats 40+million to 20+ million. A lot of the damage is being done at the local level (antiunion, voter suppression laws, gutting schools and public safety)

“And just what does Obama plan to do when the East Koreans there cross the border into Kansas? If he can’t keep out them there armordillas, how can he stop the influxation of poutine surging up there in that airspace, you betcha?”

Daily Kos highlights a new line of attack Mitt Romney is using now that Michele Bachmann is out of the race: “This president is a crony capitalist. He’s a job killer… This president has engaged and is engaging in crony capitalism.”

As Kos notes, that’s an accusation that could come back to haunt Romney, since he orchestrated a federal bailout of his own company, Bain Capital, in 1991, in which the FDIC forgave $10 million in debt the company owed. So if there’s one person whose job may have been saved by “crony capitalism,” it’s Mitt.

Given that it’s the Republicans under George Bush who came up with the idea of a bank bailout, and that McCain suspended his campaign to go mute at the meeting to discuss the bank bailout, and that Hank Paulson spent $350 Billion dollars without any results during the bank bailout – this one will be easy to refute. Any money recovered from the bank bailout was under the Obama Administration, who forced banks to limit bonuses until they paid back the money, and even appointed a bank Czar to supervise those same banks. If that’s crony capitalism, then I’d like some more.

A new round of arrests has been made in the investigation of former aides to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), from his time as Milwaukee County Executive. This time, it is three different men, in a matter that reportedly involves serious alleged misconduct for a military charity.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

Tim Russell, a longtime Walker campaign and county staffer, was charged with two felony and one misdemeanor count of embezzlement. One source said the charges are tied to Operation Freedom, an annual military appreciation day held at the zoo.

…

Pierick, 48, was charged with two felonies counts for child enticement. He is an office operations assistant at DPI dealing with education for homeless children and youth, according to the agency’s website.

Also charged is Kevin Kavanaugh, Walker’s appointee to the Milwaukee County Veteran Service Commission, who was previously treasurer of the Milwaukee Purple Heart chapter at the time of the dispute over the missing amount of $11,000. Back in 2010, Walker’s county’ administration asked prosecutors to investigate the missing money.

The Catholic Church really should make clerical celibacy voluntary, not mandatory. L.A. has just lost someone who on the face of it seemed like a wonderful servant of the people.

From humble beginnings in southwest Mexico, Gabino Zavala entered the priesthood and embarked on a remarkable journey that landed him squarely in the corner offices of the nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese.

An auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, he oversaw the church’s vast San Gabriel region, a diverse community considered vital to the future of the church. Then, from his pulpit, he became a forceful champion for social and economic justice.

Popular and approachable, Zavala was widely known by his first name. To many, that sensibility made the Vatican’s announcement on Wednesday unthinkable: For more than a decade, Zavala had harbored a dark secret. He is the father, church officials said, of two children, and had resigned his post.